Coventry City: £6.5m signing will never be fondly remembered by Sky Blues faithful - View | OneFootball

Craig Bellamy's stint at Coventry City is one everyone will want to forget

Key Takeaways

Coventry City have enjoyed a lot of success in the transfer market in recent years.

The Sky Blues have smartly used their recruitment process to add players that were crucial to their rise back up the English pyramid.

The standout examples are Viktor Gyokeres and Gustavo Hamer, who were both sold for massive profits.

But there have been many incomings under Mark Robins that have played their role in the club becoming a perennial promotion chaser in the last few years.

However, one record signing from the club’s past that fans will never remember fondly is the arrival of Craig Bellamy in 2000 from Norwich City.

According to Sky Sports, it cost the Championship side £6.5 million to sign the Welshman, with the team looking to replace Robbie Keane.

Bellamy had come through at Norwich, and impressed a lot during the 1999/2000 season, but made the switch to Coventry ahead of the new campaign.

Keane had been a talismanic figure for the club, but was sold to Inter Milan after scoring 12 goals in 31 Premier League appearances that term (all stats from Fbref).

Replacing the Irishman was going to be a tricky task for the then 21-year-old, who had yet to play top flight football at that stage of his career.

However, the manner of his arrival at Coventry really set the tone for what was a very difficult year to come.

Bellamy had been negotiating with Newcastle United over a move, which failed to come to fruition, leading to talks with the Sky Blues, which saw Justin Fashanu unexpectedly turn up to negotiations.

Writing in his 2013 biography (p.83-85) about the incident, the forward revealed he was reluctant to sign for the club, but put pen to paper on the deal anyway.

"They were persuasive,” he said.

“I felt undermined by the mess with Fashanu.

“I wanted to save face with Strachan.

“I felt stressed.

“My chest was tight because I'm asthmatic.

“I was struggling to breathe properly because I was so tense. I was in a state.

“So I did what everybody had told me not to do. I told Strachan I'd sign."

Craig Bellamy’s Coventry departure

Bellamy was a club record signing for Coventry, but his time there lasted just 12 months before finally getting that move to St. James’ Park.

The Sky Blues were relegated in 2001, with Bellamy only scoring six times from 34 appearances in the top flight.

The club have yet to return to the Premier League since, with the forward’s inability to make things work with the team a big reason why they went from 14th to 19th in just one year.

Bellamy went on to find greater success elsewhere, competing at the highest level for sides like Newcastle, Liverpool, and Manchester City.

But his time at Coventry is a stint that he and supporters will never look back on fondly, proving a disastrous move for all parties.

In the 24 years since that signing, only Haji Wright and Ellis Simms have been bought for greater sums, with both turning out as much greater successes than the current Wales manager did.